GOP Viewpoint: Getting fleeced

Yankee Institute develops and advances free-market, limited-government solutions in Connecticut. As one of America’s oldest state-based think tanks, Yankee is a leading advocate for smart, limited government; fairness for taxpayers; and an open road to opportunity.

In particular, Yankee is the first to publish a policy paper that calculates the actual cost of Gov. Lamont’s tax increase at $2.4 billion per year. We need to hold lawmakers accountable for these projected increases.

$17.8 million in other miscellaneous tax increases, including a tax on vaping, a real estate conveyance tax increase on homes over $800,000, and an increase in the movie ticket tax.

Additionally, Yankee cut through the political talk and crunched the numbers on the Family and Medical Leave act Program (FMLA). It concluded that Connecticut’s paid FMLA benefit, as currently structured, will likely become unstable very quickly, resulting in ever-rising payroll taxes even as benefits are slashed and the program itself veers into bankruptcy.

Last but not least, your audience needs to hear about the proposed study to determine what is “junk” food and how to tax it.

Gov. Lamont may have backed away from the idea of taxing groceries, but part of his budget would order a study to define and examine the feasibility of taxing “junk food.”

Senate Bill 877, which requires that the secretary of the Office of Policy and Management and the commissioners of the Department of Public Health and Department of Revenue Services “shall conduct a study to define ‘junk food’ and examine the administrative feasibility of imposing a tax on such junk food.”

Definition of junk food is left to the commissioners and OPM secretary to decide through their study.

Lamont has proposed a statewide tax of 1.5 cents per ounce on all sugar-sweetened beverages (estimated $163 million per year).